Pan's Labyrinth [HD DVD]

If anyone wants to know where the dark, creepy fairy tales of old went, here's a hint: Guillermo del Toro is doing a pretty good job with the fairy tales for adults.

"Pan's Labyrinth" ("El Laberinto del Fauno") is a sequel of sorts to "The Devil's Backbone," a magical realism film about the Spanish Civil War. But this movie takes us deeper into a world that is half real, half ominous fairy tale, with a unique and imaginative story and some really excellent acting -- in short, a triumph.

Time and place: 1944, Spain. Ofelia (Ivana Baquero) and her very pregnant mother travel to meet her new stepfather, the brutal and murderous Captain Vidal (Sergi López). Ofelia loathes her new stepfather, but is transfixed by the eerie forests around them -- and one night she is visited by a fairy, and encounters a giant faun who tells her that she is Princess Moanna of the netherworld, and must return there.

To do so, he tells her that she must do three things, and gives her a strange book. Ofelia menages first task, but is frightened out of her wits by the second task, which involves a hideous monster with eyes in its hands. Even worse, her mother's pregnancy is getting more dangerous. As the guerillas and the fascists clash, Ofelia faces being trapped outside the netherworld forever...

Fairy tales have become cleaned-up and cutesy over time, so that children can read them without nightmares. But del Toro knows that the best fairy tales are the eerie, bizarre ones for adults, that are connected somehow to the real world. That is what makes "Pan's Labyrinth" so brilliantly dark and heartfelt.

Del Toro obviously crafted this with care, directing it in a dreamlike style and brilliant visuals. The eerie atmosphere of Ofelia's wanderings -- the delicate yet menacing faun, the chalk doors, the monuments, and the pasty nightmare with eyes in its palms -- is both a contrast and a parallel with the everyday world, which Ofelia hopes to escape.

At first, it seems like the post-Civil War and fairy tale stories don't mesh, until you see that the "real world" story is Ofelia's motivation to escape from all the fear, pain and sorrow. But Del Toro's biggest triumph is an ending that is beautifully bittersweet, and which turns out to hinge on Ofelia's newborn brother.

But del Toro's biggest triumph is in the instant connection we feel to Ofelia, with her love of the fantastical and her desire to go somewhere "safe." Baquero is absolutely wonderful in this, as a girl who isn't entirely of this world -- in her heart, she belongs somewhere beyond. And López is the ideal villain -- you spend the whole movie wanting to see him gruesomely killed.

Half "Mirrormask" and half gritty war story, "Pan's Labyrinth" is one of the best fantasy stories in years -- dark, passionate and beautifully made. Definitely a great movie.

This movie is not at all for children or those who dislike major violence. Of all the movies that Guillermo del Toro has made I'm guessing this is the personal one for him. I heard him saying on TV that when he was a kid he'd imagine the floor to his bedroom opening up and a creature coming out and having a conversation with him. That's pretty much what Ofelia goes through in this movie as she resorts to a fantasy world where strange creatures send her on a magical journey to regain her royal title. A very simple fairy tale told by one of our greatest filmmakers.
While the movie closely follows Ofelia's tasks, spoken to her by a magic book from Pan, it is mostly about the war, double agents (Maribel Verdú and Álex Angulo), and the Captain's near-obsession with his expected son. The battles are extremely brutal and made me queazy a couple of times. So brutal are these deaths, in fact, that you'll be relieved to see a simple shot to the head or back.

The acting is top-notch, and I like to say that young Ivana Baquero has a huge and brilliant future ahead of her. One of the great aspects to the movie is how much scarier the people in the real world are than any strange creature from another fantasy world and none do it better than Sergi Lopez who plays the evil Capitan. He does a great job of playing in a suave sophisticated way that rivals that great job that Ralph Fiennes did with his character in "Schindler's List". He's pure evil packaged in clean cut way and doesn't have the slightest hesitation to killing anyone. It's really interesting that in a movie filled with strange creatures like a giant toad and a pale man with no eyes, the most frightening person would be a regular man with no conscious. The animation is phenomenal, but not nearly as breathtaking as the costumes or scenery. The labyrinth itself just takes all the breath out of you when you see it at night for the first time. The "pale man" (also played by Doug Jones), is by far the most terrifying creature in the movie, most-likely to give even the most mature and grown-up adults shivers. Faun (Doug Jones) who is the creature that gives Ofelia all her assignments is also great with his goat looking self. I really wish there were more scenes with him in the movie but I guess the budget wouldn't allow for that.

Yes, this movie does have sub-titles, but it's hardly noticeable at first, so much so that you forget about them by the tragic end of the movie. "Pan's Labyrinth" is frightening and sad to the extreme, but it also gives you a sense of hope that magic does, in fact, exist. This is one of the most astonishing adult fairy tales I've seen in a long time.

Even if you have seen this movie in the theatres, I strongly recommend purchasing this DVD as this is a film that should be viewed more than once. The first viewing wraps your attention into the plot- is the Faun good or evil? What will happen to Ophelia and how the fairly tale ends. However, after seeing the film 3 times more, I was surprised at how much more depth can be seen in the characters of the Captain and the Faun that werent evident the first time through. I began to see the Captain as far more vulnerable and human than I originally thought and the Faun more beautiful and haunting. I agree that this is a fantastic movie.